Am I Willing to Die?

Can I Let It Die?

My technologically-challenged brain did not allow me to send out yesterday's FF with the correct date. Check out yesterday's edition by visiting: http://keswickfreedomfighters.blogspot.com/

And He was saying to them all, "If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me." Luke 9:23

Much of what Jesus asks of us runs against the grain of what the world says or expects. You've got to be kidding that in this day and age when everything is about me, my felt-needs, my wants and desires, that He would expect me to deny myself?

Does He not get it? I have to take care of me. If I don't take care of me, nobody else will. After all, that's the name of the game, right? Is it?

Well think about this -- YOU were crucified with Christ on the cross! In case you forgot that, remember Galatians 2:20? His story is your story. He was crucified on the cross and so were YOU! My flesh, my old self -- the old man -- is was nailed to the cross with Jesus.

Listen to these powerful words from Pastor Milton Vincent as he writes in "A GOSPEL PRIMER FOR CHRISTIANS -- LEARNING TO SEE THE GLORIES OF GOD'S LOVE" ... God is committed to my dying every day, and He calls me to that same commitment. He insists that every hour be my dying hour, and He wants my death on the cross to be as central to my own life story as is Christ's death to the gospel story ... Crucifixion hurts. In fact, its heart-wrenching brutality can numb the senses. It is a gasping and bloody affair, and there is nothing nice, pretty or easy about it. It is not merely death, but excruciating death.

Nevertheless, I must set my face like flint toward the cross and embrace this crucifixion in everything I do. I should expect every day to encounter circumstantial evidence of God's commitment to my dying; and I must seize upon every God-given opportunity to be conformed more and more fully to Christ's death no matter the pain involved!"

I'll share a powerful insight on Wednesday that you won't want to miss. It will not be for the faint of heart! -- Bill Welte is President and CEO of America's KESWICK

Don't miss this weeks STEWARDSHIP INSIGHT FROM GEORGE: http://keswickgeorge.blogspot.com/2009/02/few-thoughts-on-president-obamas-225.html

God's WORD for YOU: Proverbs 3; Numbers 26-28; Mark 8

Great Quote: “We came into this world wretched, miserable, and undone creatures, in cruel bondage to sin and Satan, under guilt and under wrath, hostile toward God—the fountain of blessedness—and in a state of condemnation leading to everlasting destruction. But when a man is converted, he is brought out of that state of woe and misery into a sure title to glory, honor, and peace forever. When once a man is converted, all this blessedness that we have heard of is his; he has an absolute right to it. God’s work is accomplished for it; His faithful promise is given.” Jonathan Edwards